The U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Interagency Fellowship Program is a career broadening, educational opportunity for field grade officers. The program, which falls under U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command’s Combined Arms Center, increases the Army’s understanding of integrating and collaborating with federal government interagency partners in future operations. Interagency partners include members of the intelligence community, Departments of State, Energy, Homeland Security, Transportation, Justice, the Agency for International Development and other key departments and agencies.

The objectives of the fellowship are:

(1) Enhance the Army’s ability to support a comprehensive approach through partnering with governmental and nongovernmental agencies in stability operations, disaster response or humanitarian assistance.

(2) Improve the nation’s overall security-related capabilities through synchronizing common missions and united effort with Army and interagency players.

(3) Improve the Army’s ability to interact and leverage the capabilities of various agencies through understanding their cultures and developing working relationships.

(4) Increase understanding of the complex, joint, interagency, intergovernmental and multinational environment in which the Army operates with its national security partners.

What is the Army doing?

The CGSC fellowship program sends key developmental/post-military education level 4 Army majors or lieutenant colonels to interagency partners to work as fully integrated staff officers. Currently, 42 CGSC interagency fellows serve in 21 partner agencies. To date, 239 Army officers have served as CGSC interagency fellows.

What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?

For summer 2018, the CGSC will select approximately 40 fellows to serve with 22 interagency partners. Priority for fellowships will be at State, USAID and the intelligence community with a focus on Russian, Iranian and Chinese issues.

Why is this important to the Army?

The importance of working with interagency partners helps to save resources and effectively and efficiently solve the nation’s problems. This is highlighted in the National Security, Defense and Military Strategies, as well as the 39th Chief of Staff of the Army’s Initial Message to the Army under priority No. 2. The Army learned this lesson in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the force must continue to work even more closely with international, intergovernmental and interagency partners.

Photo credit: In April 2012, Soldiers with U.S. Army North participated in an interagency hurricane response drill on Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Participating in the drill were representatives from Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Northern Command, U.S. Army North, the National Guard Bureau and others. A fellowship program offered by the Army’s Command and General Staff College puts qualified Army officers into the offices of interagency partners for up to a year to help better prepare them to work in interagency environments. (U.S. Army by Staff Sgt. Keith Anderson)

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. –Nearly 1,200 officers graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Officer Course at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, June 9 on the Main Parade Field. The graduating class includes mid-career officers from all American military services as well as 108 international officers representing 88 countries and 15 federal government civilian employees.

Gen. Robert B. “Abe” Abrams, commanding general, U.S. Army Forces Command, was the graduation speaker. Abrams challenged the students to develop and nurture a mindset that “we need to be ready now.” He also told the American graduates “The American people are banking on your service.”

Abrams assumed his current position on 10 August 2015. As commander of the United States Army’s largest organization, he commands 229,000 active-duty Soldiers, and provides training and readiness oversight of U.S. Army National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve units. In total, the Forces Command team includes 776,000 Soldiers and 96,000 Civilians.

An Armored Cavalryman, Abrams earned his commission from the United States Military Academy in 1982. He has commanded at every level from Company through Division, and led units in combat operations in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. Duty with warfighting units include: 3rd Armored Division; 1st Cavalry Division (three tours); 3rd Infantry Division; and the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. Abrams holds a Bachelor of Science from West Point, a Master of Science from Central Michigan University, and a Master of Strategic Studies from the United States Army War College.

The 10-month Command and General Staff Officers Course develops warfighting and adaptive leadership skills necessary for military officers to be proficient in Unified Land Operations. The college is an educational center of excellence renowned in the study of leadership, the conduct of joint and combined land warfare, and the application of Joint, Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational organizations to synchronize all elements of power to achieve national objectives.

Top award recipients for the course include Maj. Trever M. Jones, Infantry, who was named the top U.S. graduate, and Maj. David T. M. Welford, United Kingdom, who was the top international graduate. CGSC Educators of the Year, Dr. Jack Kem and Lt. Col. Christopher Johnson were also honored during the ceremony.

International military students, received the CGSC International Officer Graduate Badge during a ceremony June 8, in the Eisenhower Auditorium at the Lewis and Clark Center. International military student participation in cooperative military studies in the United States originated at Fort Leavenworth in 1894. Since then, international military students have become an integral part of the Command and General Staff Officer’s Course and to date more than 8,000 international officers have studied alongside U.S. military and government civilian counterparts.

In addition to completing the graduate-level course, 139 students were awarded the Master of Military Art and Science Degree. Students earn the master’s degree by successful completion of the Command and General Staff Officers Course, successful completion of an oral comprehensive exam, and writing and orally defending a thesis based on original research. The College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools to award the master’s degree.

Awardees

General George C. Marshall Award for top U.S. graduate, Maj. Trevor M. Jones, Infantry

General Dwight D. Eisenhower Award for top International Graduate, Maj. David T.M. Welford, United Kingdom.

Maj. Gen. John S. Kem, Provost of the Army University and deputy commandant of the Command and General Staff College presented the International Graduate Badge to international officers completing the yearlong Command and General Staff Officers Course June 8 at the post’s Lewis and Clark Center. The ceremony honored 108 international officers from 88 countries.

The International Graduate Badge was presented to 108 international officers from 88 countries during a ceremony at the Command and General Staff College on Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. (U.S. Army photo)

The tradition of presenting international military students with a badge began in 1964 in response to interest by international military students who wanted a distinctive emblem to indicate they were graduates of the college. Many other military colleges around the world have such emblems. International military student participation in cooperative military studies in the United States originated at Fort Leavenworth with the arrival of Swiss Lieutenant Henri LeComte in 1894.

Speaking on behalf of the international students, German Major Jan Feldman, Chief of Staff of the International Officer Class, noted the class was sorrowed by two students who were called home early in the year because of unrest in their country. He said that event amplified the complex defense environment we live in today and the reason it was important for international officers to live, work, and study together. “The lessons we learn on the inside may be far greater than what we learned in the classroom,” he said. “Learning to accept a different set of values and perceptions [from other international and U.S. students] is the foundation of awareness and dialog,” he said.

In addition to presentation of the badges, recipients of the two major awards for international students were announced at the ceremony. United Kingdom Major David Welford was named the recipient of the General Dwight D. Eisenhower as the top international graduate, and Lt. Col. Meshari M. Alhaddad of Kuwait receives the Major General Hans Schlup Award. The Schlup Award, first given in 1997, recognizes and promotes the significance and importance of international relations developed through the network of friends and professional acquaintances at CGSC in the international military community.

Feldman and German Lt. Col. Sebastian Bley presented the International Student’s gift to the college. The gift is a world map that highlights the nations present in the class and has photos of each international student. It will be displayed in the Lewis and Clark Center’s atrium for the next year.

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan.—The Command and General Staff College will induct three international graduates into its International Hall of Fame Oct. 6 at the Lewis and Clark Center. This event will bring the number of International Hall of Fame inductees to 266, out of nearly 8,000 international officers who have graduated from the college.

Gen. Volker Wieker of Germany, Brig. Gen. Igor Gorgan of Moldova, and Brig. Gen. Mark Phillips of Guyana will be honored during the ceremony. The International Hall of Fame recognizes international officer graduates of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, who, through military merit, have attained one of the highest positions of importance in their respective countries’ armed forces, or who have held an equivalent position by rank or responsibility in a multinational military organization.

Wieker started his career in the German Army in 1974. He completed a number of armored artillery assignments commanding at the battery and battalion levels. He also commanded a German Armored Brigade and the Multinational Brigade South in Kosovo. As a general, he commanded the 1st German/Netherlands Corps. Wieker participated in international operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Iraq. Today, Wieker continues to serve as the 15th Chief of Staff of the Bundeswehr, the German military. He graduated from the U.S. Army Command General Staff Officer’s Course in 1992 and is the eighth German officer to be inducted. Wieker is not able to attend the ceremony. The German Army Liaison Officer to the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center will accept the honor on his behalf.

Gorgan was selected as the Chief of the General Staff of the National Army of Moldova and Commander of the National Army in 2013 and continued in that role until his retirement in June. He previously commanded a Motorized Battalion, commanded the 1st and 2nd Motorized Infantry Brigades, and served as Chief of the J-7 Training Directorate of the National Army General Staff. The 2002 graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Officer’s Course has also served overseas deployments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia and Iraq. Gorgan is the third Moldovan officer to be inducted.

Phillips has held a number of command and staff appointments. He has commanded at every level. He was the Inspector General for Guyana beginning in 2011. Earlier, he was Guyana’s Delegate to Inter-American Defense Board in 2009 and Guyana’s non-resident military attaché to Venezuela in 2010. Phillips was appointed as the Chief of the Staff of the Guyana Defense Force in September 2013 and has served in that position until his retirement this month. Brigadier General Phillips is the third U.S. Army Command and General Staff Officers Course graduate from Guyana to attain the rank of general and the second to be inducted into the hall of fame.

The CGSC International Hall of Fame was established in 1973 jointly between CGSC, the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars and the CGSC Foundation, In addition to being inducted into the Hall of Fame, inductees are presented a CGSC certificate of honor by the Military Order of the World Wars and a Life Constituent Certificate by the Foundation.

International military student participation in cooperative military studies in the United States originated at Fort Leavenworth with the arrival of Swiss Lieutenant Henri Le Comte in 1894. Since then, international students, representing 164 countries to date, have become an integral part of the Fort Leavenworth experience. These talented military officers contribute to a rich professional and cultural exchange environment. Approximately half of the international officers that attend CGSC go on to become generals.

Pictured above: Gen. Volker Wieker of Germany, Brig. Gen. Igor Gorgan of Moldova, and Brig. Gen. Mark Phillips of Guyana will be honored during the International Hall of Fame ceremony Oct. 6 at the Lewis and Clark Center on Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. (Army News Service, Nov. 27, 2015) — The warrior code has differentiated Soldiers in armies throughout history from wanton murderers like those of the Islamic State, al Qaeda and terrorists involved in the recent Paris attacks, Dr. Shannon French said.

More than 1100 officers graduated from the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Officer Course here today. The graduating class includes mid-career officers from all American armed forces as well as 69 international officers and 16 federal government civilian employees from other agencies. The graduation ceremony is at the post’s Lewis and Clark Center.

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Welcome to TRADOC's official blog where you will find unique stories, commentary from Army Senior Leaders, current news, videos and photos highlighting our Soldiers around the globe. The appearance of external
links on this site does not constitute official endorsement on behalf of the U.S. Army or Department of Defense.